A focus on safety can support learning in a variety of ways, making it feel safer for instructors to open the "can of worms," knowing how to approach this work while maintaining a safe environment for teachers and students. This same instructor described what this looks like in her setting:

So when a student discloses to me, I can listen, honour her telling, and ask if she has someone to talk to. If she says yes, then I know I'm not on the spot for being the main counsellor. If she says no, then I pull out the little card [of services in the community], and because it is a small community, she will usually have a connection at one or two of the programs listed there, and be willing to go in to talk to someone. This back-up makes it possible for me to refer to violence and abuse in class, in the material we read, for example, or in the activities we do. I give lots of warning before we read it-- "the story we are going to read tomorrow is hard to read emotionally. It is about a girl who was sexually abused--" and students have the freedom to come to the reading class or to work in the other room with the other teacher. I give the warning so students who don't want to hear it can keep themselves safe. Other students come and some will disclose. I like it better when people disclose to a small reading group, rather than in secret to me, even though they may tell me privately more details than they reveal in group. The culture at our Centre is that abuse is wrong, and that nobody deserves violence, no matter what they do. (Nonesuch, NIFL Women and Literacy List, 27.9.2000)

A discourse of safety can open talk about what might be required to maintain it and what exactly it might look like in each context.